


29 Day Feb-Whump-Ary Challenge: Day 5

by sunshinehime



Series: 29 Day Feb-Whump-Ary Challenge 2020 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drowning, Gen, Hurt Shiro (Voltron), Near Death Experiences, Season 8, Shiro (Voltron) Whump, broganes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-24
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-22 16:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22886092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinehime/pseuds/sunshinehime
Summary: Shiro’s drop-sled, the same one Allura used before, is shot out of the sky and he falls. Fortunately he’s close enough to the water that he isn’t killed when he hits the surface. Unfortunately the shock knocks the breath from his lungs and the sea’s frigid temperature triggers his cold water gasp.
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron)
Series: 29 Day Feb-Whump-Ary Challenge 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1645033
Kudos: 22
Collections: Feb-Whump-Ary





	29 Day Feb-Whump-Ary Challenge: Day 5

**Author's Note:**

> So this topic I wanted to tackle not only for the challenge but because drowning is such a dangerous yet deeply misunderstood phenomenon. It’s nothing dramatic like in countless TV shows and movies. It simply looks like a person is standing straight while bobbing above water and then within a minute they sink and everything rapidly declines from there. So I made sure that the depiction here was accurate, based on both medical articles and first-hand accounts of the experience (as well as my own experience as a child).

Shiro’s drop-sled, the same one Allura used before, is shot out of the sky and he falls. Fortunately he’s close enough to the water that he isn’t killed when he hits the surface. Unfortunately the shock knocks the breath from his lungs and the sea’s frigid temperature triggers his cold water gasp. He inhales a small amount of water which kickstarts the drowning process.

Shiro is trapped in an endless, churning sea of blue and grey with nothing to grab and only the pale red sky above. His head bobs back up after each wave crashes over him and his hands push against the water’s surface as his mind devolves into blind panic, instincts screaming at him to get above water, stay above water, breathe breathe _breathe_.

His Altean arm is far more lightweight and doesn’t immediately weigh him down like his old Galra arm would. But his prosthetic, like a human arm, still can’t grasp at nothing and is therefore just as useless. Wave after wave continues to submerge him and he quickly runs out of energy.

Dragged underwater Shiro’s coherence returns in small doses. He’s surrounded by a world of rippling dark and clamps his human hand around his mouth and nose, refusing to breathe in more water, lungs burning with the effort.

Despite his waning strength, he continues to struggle, to push himself upwards with his prosthetic. But it’s harder and harder to resist, the agony of not breathing stabbing his lungs at every moment.

His strength finally gives out and his vision blackens around the edges. There’s no more sound. It’s peaceful, he thinks, as he sinks further into the inky abyss.

Shiro knows that he will die.

He doesn’t remember much after that. A burst of energy, a sudden surge upward, a bright light hitting his eyes, muffled screams.

The next time he wakes up he’s surrounded by blue again and he panics, thinking he’s somehow back in the water. There’s a hissing noise, the glass releases and Shiro tips over right into someone’s red? arms and body. In a flood his senses return and a torrent of noise hits his ears. He gasps for air and it tastes sweet and fresh and _free of water_. He clings to the red person. No, the person _wearing_ red. Keith!

“Welcome back Shiro.” Keith’s voice sounds tiny and watery and god Shiro will never make a water pun ever again. But he laughs despite himself and squeezes his brother tight.


End file.
